Tori McKinney scored a career-high 26 points, and Mallory Heyer added her second double-double in as many games as Minnesota beat Belmont, 75-63, to win the second Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Wednesday in Indianapolis.

The Gophers finished the season with five straight tournament victories to be the last team standing in the 32-team WBIT. They hoisted the program’s second postseason trophy, and first since the 2012 team won the 16-team Women’s Basketball Invitational under Pam Borton.

The Gophers (25-11) improved to a healthy 9-1 in postseason games under second-year coach Dawn Plitzuweit.

Minnesota’s Amaya Battle pulls up for a jumper in the first half of the Gophers’ WBIT championship game against Belmont on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Zach Bolinger / Gophers Athletics)

McKinney, a freshman guard from Minnetonka, was the hot hand early, scoring 19 first-half points as the Gophers took a 37-23 lead into intermission. Heyer, who had 13 points and 15 rebounds in the semifinal victory over Florida, finished with 18 points and 18 boards.

Amaya Battle added 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Minnesota. Banks scored 17 points for the Bruins.

Heyer’s layup with 1:56 left in regulation helped the Gophers hold off a late run by Belmont (26-13), giving the Gophers a 71-58 lead. The Bruins trailed by as many as 24 but made it interesting late when McKinney was on the bench with four fouls.

They finished the third quarter with a 5-0 run, then used a 12 run to pull within 63-53 on a layup by Jailyn Banks with 5:20 remaining. After trading baskets, Belmont cut its deficit to single digits, 67-58, on a 3-pointer by Kendal Cheesman with 3:17 remaining in regulation.

Grocholski missed a pair of free throws, and Banks hit a jumper to pull the Bruins to within 71-63. In the end, however, Minnesota made just enough free throws to put the game away, 5 for 8 in the final 1:20.

The Gophers blitzed the Bruins early, opening a 14-3 lead on a 3-pointer by Heyer with 2:10 left in the first quarter. That lead ballooned to 16 a couple of times before intermission, the last on another 3-pointer by Heyer.

Minnesota’s chances to put this one entirely away were undone by turnovers late in the second quarter. Before that, the Gophers were outsourcing Belmont off turnovers 14-0. But Minnesota coughed the ball up five times in the last 4 minutes of the first half, and the Bruins scored five points off of them.

Still, a 37-23 lead was auspicious as the Gophers started the second half, especially considering leading scorer Grace Grocholski didn’t have a point, 0 for 2 from the field, although she did have four assists and a steal. The Gophers, in fact, recorded 13 assists on 15 baskets before intermission.

Minnesota turned up the heat early in the third quarter, however, holding the Bruins to one field goal in the first 4:20 — a 3-pointer by Kendal Cheesman — to take a 50-26 lead on McKinney’s layup.

Minnesota freshman Tori McKinney celebrates a 3-pointer in the first half of the Gophers’ WBIT championship game against Belmont on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Zach Bolinger / Gophers Athletics)

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The St. Paul City Council has been without a seventh voting member since Feb. 5, when former Council President Mitra Jalali stepped down from her Ward 4 seat.

After two months without a council member representing Hamline-Midway, Merriam Park, St. Anthony Park and portions of Como and Mac-Groveland, many voters expected the council to appoint a temporary replacement on Wednesday. For the second week in a row, the council did not, though not for lack of trying.

“This process is not what I had hoped it would be,” said Council President Rebecca Noecker, at the end of a lengthy and sometimes emotional discussion about the behind-the-scenes politicking and lack of transparency that derailed an appointment process now likely headed to the mayor’s desk.

“We all have a lot of reflecting to do,” Noecker said. “The decision, in this case, would go to the mayor.”

Deadlocked, failed votes

Early in Wednesday’s meeting, Noecker made a motion to suspend the rules and introduce a special resolution to sponsor Lisa Nelson as the interim Ward 4 member, but the council deadlocked, 3-to-3, on whether to allow the motion to move forward.

Without majority support, the motion failed.

Council members Anika Bowie, Cheniqua Johnson and Saura Jost voted against the motion, with Jost participating remotely from San Diego. Noecker, HwaJeong Kim and Nelsie Yang voted for the motion.

Jost later made a motion to introduce her own resolution, under suspension of the rules, sponsoring Matt Privratsky as the interim Ward 4 council member. That motion also failed 4-2, with only Jost and Johnson voting yes.

Later in the meeting, the council called a recess, and members exited the chamber for an extended period. Some returned visibly emotional. Soon after, Kim introduced yet another motion to suspend the rules and reconsider the previous vote, drawing strong remarks of frustration from Johnson.

“This process has been anything but the standard we’ve operated under,” said Johnson, calling the behind-the-scenes politicking “painful” and embarrassing. “When we left the room today before the recess, we didn’t have a (majority). … That discussion that happened after the recess was not transparent.”

After further remarks from other council members, Kim’s motion failed, 3-to-3, with Kim, Noecker and Yang voting to support it and Bowie, Johnson and Jost voting against.

Mayor may have to step in

Without majority support for a new council member, the seat remains empty, raising the likelihood that St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter will have to appoint someone this month to fill the Ward 4 vacancy through the Aug. 12 election. Under the city charter, the council has 30 days to fill a vacancy, and Jalali officially left city employ on March 8. The next scheduled council meeting is April 9.

If no one is appointed by April 7, the mayor would then have 10 days under the city charter to appoint “a qualified voter of the ward.”

Council members acknowledged the stakes are high. The new appointee may cast tie-breaking votes on a variety of issues, including looming budget questions and what’s likely to be a hot-button discussion over the future of the city’s voter-approved rent control ordinance.

At the mayor’s urging, Noecker and two other council members plan to introduce an amendment this month eliminating rent control protections for residential properties constructed after 2004. In a trade-off of sorts intended to soften the blow for renters, Johnson plans to sponsor a series of tenant protections, to be introduced around the same time.

“We have big votes before us,” said Bowie, criticizing “us playing a game of chess” to fill the council vacancy. “It’s very important who is in this seat.”

A sticky process

Efforts to fill the Ward 4 seat since Jalali’s departure have proven procedurally sticky. Jay Willms, who was recently named chief of council operations, screened 20 applications. After conferring with city clerk Shari Moore and others at City Hall, he whittled the pool to four finalists.

With the goal of filling the vacant seat by early April, the council interviewed the four finalists in mid-March, including Nelson, a former art conservator turned neighborhood advocate, Privratsky, a lobbyist for the clean energy industry who had previously served as Jalali’s legislative aide, artist and community organizer Sean Lim and nonprofit consultant Melissa Martinez-Sones.

Noecker was on bereavement leave and unable to attend the meeting on March 26, when the council was initially scheduled to vote on an appointee. Over the objection of Kim and Yang, Jost took the opportunity to offer an amended resolution in favor of Privratsky, with the stated expectation the final resolution would be voted upon by the full council later that week.

Instead, during a special convening of the council last Friday, Noecker withdrew the resolution from the agenda, closing the meeting in three minutes without a vote. By that time, Martinez-Sones had withdrawn her name from consideration.

Both Noecker and Jost then attempted to introduce their favored candidates on Wednesday, without success.

Separate from the interim appointment process, candidates also are organizing campaigns to run for the seat this summer. At least three candidates have come forward to seek the Ward 4 office, and the winner of the Aug. 12 election will serve through 2028.

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — The sweeping new tariffs announced Wednesday by U.S. President Donald Trump were met initially with measured reactions from key trading partners, highlighting the lack of appetite for a full-fledged trade war.

The fact that the tariffs fell most heavily on parts of the world sleeping through the night appeared to at least temporarily delay some of the potential outrage.

President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump presented the import taxes, which he calls “reciprocal tariffs” and range from 10% to 49%, in the simplest terms: the U.S. would do to its trading partners what he said they had been doing to the U.S. for decades.

“Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” he said. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”

The president promised that “Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country.” He framed it not just as an economic issue, but a question of national security that threatens “our very way of life.”

‘Nobody wants a trade war’

Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the British government said the United States remains the U.K.’s “closest ally.”

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the U.K. hoped to strike a trade deal to “mitigate the impact” of the 10% tariffs on British goods announced by Trump.

“Nobody wants a trade war and our intention remains to secure a deal,” said Reynolds. “But nothing is off the table and the government will do everything necessary to defend the U.K.’s national interest.”

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British officials have said they will not immediately retaliate, an approach backed by the Confederation of British Industry, a major business group.

Italy’s conservative Premier Giorgia Meloni described the new 20% tariffs against the European Union as “wrong,” saying they benefit neither side.

“We will do everything we can to work towards an agreement with the United States, with the aim of avoiding a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global players,” Meloni said in a Facebook post. “In any case, as always, we will act in the interest of Italy and its economy, also by discussing with other European partners,” she added.

Little to gain

Spared for the moment from the latest round of tariffs were Mexico and Canada, so far as goods that already qualified under their free trade agreement with the United States. Yet, the previously announced 25% tariffs on auto imports were scheduled to take effect at midnight.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday she would wait to take action on Thursday when it was clear how Trump’s announcement would affect Mexico.

“It’s not a question of if you impose tariffs on me, I’m going to impose tariffs on you,” she said in a news briefing Wednesday morning. “Our interest is in strengthening the Mexican economy.”

Canada had imposed retaliatory tariffs in response to the 25% tariffs that Trump tied to the trafficking of fentanyl. The European Union, in response to the steel and aluminum tariffs, imposed taxes on 26 billion euros’ worth ($28 billion) of U.S. goods, including bourbon, prompting Trump to threaten a 200% tariff on European alcohol.

As Trump read down the list of countries that would be targeted Wednesday, he repeatedly said he didn’t blame them for the tariffs and non-tariff barriers they imposed to protect their own nations’ businesses. “But we’re doing the same thing right now,” he said.

“In the face of unrelenting economic warfare, the United States can no longer continue with a policy of unilateral economic surrender,” Trump said.

Speaking from a business forum in India, Chilean President Gabriel Boric warned that such measures, in addition to causing uncertainty, challenge the “mutually agreed rules” and the “principles that govern international trade.”

Ultimately, Trump announced Chile would face the baseline reciprocal tariff of 10%. The U.S. is Chile’s second most important trading partner after China.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Analysts say there’s little to be gained from an all-out trade war, neither in the United States or in other countries.

“Once again, Trump has put Europe at a crossroads,” said Matteo Villa, senior analyst at Italy’s Institute for International Political Studies.

“If Trump really imposes high tariffs, Europe will have to respond, but the paradox is that the EU would be better off doing nothing,” he added.

Villa also noted that retaliation would certainly be a further “blow” to the United States, but it would hurt Europe even more, as the EU bloc depends more on exports to the U.S. than vice versa.

“On the other hand, Trump seems to understand only the language of force, and this indicates the need for a strong and immediate response,” Villa said. “Probably the hope, in Brussels, is that the response will be strong enough to induce Trump to negotiate and, soon, to backtrack.”

AP journalists around the world contributed to this story.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has banned Woodbury attorney Kristi McNeilly from practicing law in the state, three years after she was convicted of theft by swindle for stealing $15,000 from a man who hired her to defend him in a drug case.

The high court’s opinion, rendered Wednesday, upheld a referee’s decision, which found that McNeilly “committed a criminal act that reflected negatively on her honesty and trustworthiness,” according to the opinion. “She stole $15,000 from a client by telling the client that the money was needed to bribe government officials to dismiss pending drug charges.”

The referee recommended McNeilly, who waived her right to an evidentiary hearing, be disbarred, and the court agreed.

“Misappropriation of client funds ‘is a breach of trust that reflects poorly on the entire legal profession and erodes the public’s confidence in lawyers,’” the opinion states.

She also was ordered to pay $900 in costs related to the case, the court’s opinion said.

McNeilly did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

McNeilly, a criminal defense attorney, was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court in 2022 to 180 days in the county workhouse after being convicted of theft-by-swindle two months prior. She also was ordered to pay back the $15,000 to her client.

She was hired in May 2018 to represent a 39-year-old Minnetonka man suspected of keeping illegal drugs in his home. The drugs were discovered during a search by the Southwest Hennepin Drug Taskforce, according to the criminal complaint. Although the man was a suspect, Her client was not immediately charged with a crime.

In November 2018, McNeilly told her client that she had spoken with the lead investigator and prosecuting attorney in his case, and that it could be resolved if her client made a payment of between $35,000 and $50,000 to a police union.

McNeilly’s client was able to collect only $15,000, which he handed over to McNeilly. Three days later, her client changed his mind and asked McNeilly for his money back, but McNeilly said she already forwarded it to the police union, according to the complaint.

After McNeilly’s client hired a new lawyer, police discovered that McNeilly had never been in contact with the lead investigator or the prosecutor, and that she spent a portion of her client’s money on mortgage and credit-card payments, the complaint said.

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The director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility filed a petition for disciplinary action against McNeilly in connection with the case.

McNeilly, who was admitted to practice law in Minnesota in 2004, had twice been previously disciplined by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility. She was publicly reprimanded and placed on probation for three years in 2015 and admonished in 2016, the opinion states.